[pct-l] FW: Great News for the PCT

[Pea Hicks]

i have a dumb question about the new pct route. looking at the map, i'm 
guessing that the pct will continue along the original abandoned route 
that goes down to sandberg. i hiked this route in 05 because there was a 
sign that had been vandalized and i (as well as several other hikers) 
ended up continuing west on the pct. this abandoned section is overgrown 
in places, but it's a fine stretch of trail in and of itself.

now to my question, though- i notice that north of sandberg, the new pct 
route cuts over to cross the 138 at horse camp canyon and crosses a 
small stretch of desert floor, then climbs back up to the crest via big 
sycamore canyon. looking at the topo map, i'm wondering why the new 
route doesn't instead head over to quail lake, and ascend to the crest 
just nw of quail lake, along the ridge that parallels i5. from there it 
would make its way ne along the crest. from what i can tell (maybe i'm 
mistaken), this would be the most continuous on-crest route, and the 
current map of the new route still cuts a small corner to descend to the 
desert floor.

i've roughed in the two basic routes here:

http://tinyurl.com/4mwo3j


don't get me wrong- i'm NOT complaining! :) i'm just wondering if anyone 
has any insight as to why this small corner was cut... or maybe the 
proposed route is still very preliminary?

girlscout